Toby’s unrivalled professional knowledge coupled with his highly personable nature and his zest for life make a tantalising and hugely valuable combination.  Use him and his services – you will be glad you did.

 

Andrew Parsons - Sky Wave Distilling Company

I began my drinks industry career in 2003 and have remained in the wine and spirit industry to this day. Since early years, and throughout my wine and spirit studies, I always loved whiskies, gin and the weird and wonderful world of liqueurs, vodkas, rum, bitters, aperitifs and fruit spirits and even non-alcoholic and functional drinks. I have passed my Shochu Advisor exam which has allowed me to represent the UK as a qualified Shochu judge and critic, and has helped to build cultural connections between Japan and the UK. 

As a Scotch Malt Whisky Society veteran and ex-head sommelier for Michelin star awarded establishments in London, I have gained a good understanding of unique premium drinks through my service and purchasing roles, writing and judging work. By progressing to group buyer level, I had the privilege not only to understand the drinks but to have a broader knowledge of their commercial value.

Over the last 20 years, I have dedicated my main attention and professional career to spirits, whisky, gin, vodka, liqueurs and other distillates, fine wines and premium cigars, and fulfilled different luxury retailing, purchasing and related events management roles in London. Meanwhile I have always made sure I have allowed time to expand my drinks competition judging potential. I thoroughly enjoy judging for the majority of the leading wine and spirits competitions and am a panel chair judge at many of them Worldwide. I am one of the busiest spirits judges on the international scene right now with regular visits to four if not five spirit producing continents and many countries, representing the UK on a senior professional level. I have been an active drinks competition judge for over 14 years now. I am very lucky to be panel chair/lead judge at the World Drinks Awards (Global, UK based), the American Distilling Institute’s International Spirit Competition (Global, US based), The Council of Whiskey Masters (US), The Spirits Business Global Masters (Global, UK based), the Michelangelo International Wine and Spirit Competition (Global, South Africa based), the Swiss Spirits Review (Switzerland) and I was head judge at the International Wine and Spirit Competition / IWSC (Global, UK based). There are dozens of other national and international competitions to list where I am or have been on the jury over the last 14 years. I trust my work is truly international and I believe I contribute globally whilst helping to raise standards in the drinks industry as a competition judge, critic and consultant. My work in the UK stretches from Cornwall to the Scottish Highlands including Wales and many locations in England naturally.

My work as an international drinks competition judge is mostly on a non-profit basis. I continue to do this work to represent the UK globally as more of a cultural and technical ambassadorial role which is time consuming with very little to no income on a personal level but great for the industry and for the UK. 

A fellow drinks expert friend and I began the International Drinks Specialists; a collective of top drinks specialist judges, to help producers and brand owners with feedback and advice on quality.  We also help to build a competition entry strategy for them. We are a selection of top UK based and international drinks professionals helping each other and operating as a support group, ensuring the drinks industry remains a safe place. We have gender parity at IDS and I am trying my very best to make sure we have a good representation of diversity and always a close to equal number of male and female members. We help to eliminate discrimination and inequality in our industry whenever we discover it and we run IDS with diversity and gender equality in mind. 

We were incredibly proud to win The Spirits BusinessDrinks Consultancy of the Year Award in 2023. As a consultant and advisor, I am a firm advocate of sustainable and eco-friendly procedures, processes, and production solutions and through IDS, we are influencing the global drinks industry to develop and apply these practices. Even by advising on lighter packaging designs and better use of resources, I trust our work at IDS has a global impact in the drinks industry. 

I am honoured to be on the Advisory Board of the Council of Whiskey Masters. This involves representing the UK on a very high profile US based international platform of top specialist professionals to help develop their study system. I’m also working on a handful of whisky, gin and other drinks related articles and features in parallel. Writing is a great way to entertain and educate people at the same time and I am incredibly fortunate to have some regular drinks columns in market leading publications throughout the UK and beyond.

I am a member of The Gin Guild and The Circle of Wine Writers – trade guilds and groups with membership both on a professional merit base and with many members recognised with the Queen’s or now King’s Honours.  I am also a firm advocate of British made brands in the drinks industry including English wines. Through my consultancy work, I am a creator of top award-winning British made drinks brands, and other award-winning drinks brands globally with consultancy and knowledge coming from the UK. I am also passionate in my role as an educator and mentor in our specialist industry.

As my second career, I am an enthusiastic clay pigeon shooter, official shooting instructor, practising coach and official referee and an award-winning cigar writer and consultant. These activities often bring people together and it is a joy to be able to facilitate great events and help create new friendships between like-minded people. As a shooting instructor and official coach, I feel I have contributed in keeping the UKs rich shooting tradition alive including the safe and educational introduction of students to the sport at a young age. These activities can sometimes be time consuming but I believe it is a great opportunity to facilitate unique and exciting pastimes and to bring people together. 

As a cigar writer I continue to strengthen the UK’s position as a historical and modern market leader of a deeply cultural and traditional product group that brings a great variety of people together. I am very happy that I have won the coveted Cigar Writer of the Year Award in 2018. Cigars can bring many different people together and by being part of such a diverse and international industry, I feel it is a great way to spend time with a great variety of people who would maybe never meet without this common interest. This includes different gender and age groups and many nationalities globally. It is a wonderful community with a great presence from the UK. 

In my free time I volunteer as a devoted supporter of one of the oldest aristocratic families in the UK and spend 25-28 days per year volunteering at their open days at Shuckburgh Hall as a host and visitor guide.  This involves hosting visitors and showing them around the property whilst sharing the rich history with our visitors and showing them the magic of this ancient property. I’m also honoured to be the Godfather of the future 15th Baronet of Shuckburgh, Archie James Rupert Shuckburgh.

I am also a regular donor of drinks tastings as charity auction prizes for local and global charities raising several thousand pounds annually. I also help at local charity and community events and am a sponsor of the local village hall. I am a regular fundraiser for several animal and UK veteran charities, supporter of the Dogs Trust, Macmillan Cancer Support, The Royal British Legion and Poppy Appeal and the (local) Air Ambulance.

I trust that I am on an extraordinary professional path being in an outstanding position helping UK knowledge and talent to shine in my sector, creating new opportunities and jobs and helping to spread knowledge and professional culture internationally with inclusion, equal opportunities and good mentoring practices in mind and hopefully even a small impact on tackling environmental and social issues in our industry.

Tobias Gorn